10 - Chapter 10
CHAP. X. THE LOVE OF GOD IN REDEMPTION. The plan of human redemption is set before us in the Scriptures not only as the consummation of the divine mercy towards men, but as an exemplification of love so wonderful as to exceed in its fulness the grasp of our conceptions. In this was manifested the love of God towards us; because that God sent his only- begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
Herein is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.1
God so loved the world, that he gave his only- begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.2 When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet i 1 John 4:9-10 :2; John 3:16. peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Song of Solomon 1:1-17 You that were sometime alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of his flesh through death? God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ? Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God*
It may be desirable to adduce some additional passages among the scriptural declarations in which the procuring cause of pardon, of justification, of sanctification, of an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven for fallen man, is exclusively pronounced to be the voluntary and atoning sufferings and death of our Redeemer, accepted through the unbounded love of God as an adequate ground for the granting of all those blessings. i Romans 5:6. 3 Ephesians 2:4-5.
" Colossians 1:21-22. * 1 John 3:1.
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.1
Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must lie saved?
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.3 Being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.*
It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell: and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.5 Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed?
I lay down my life for the sheep.7 1 John 1:29. s Colossians 1:19-20.
2 Acts 4:12. e1 Peter 2:24. See Isaiah, liii. s Bom. Hi. 25. ^ John,x. 15. i Romans 5:9-11.
Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.1 Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ?
We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all.3 The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin*
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.5 Such are the announcements of our Lord and of His apostles upon earth. What is the language of Heaven ? And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts 6 (living creatures) and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven i 2 Corinthians 8:9. * 1 Peter 1:18-19. s Hebrews 10:10. * 1 John 1:7. s Revelation 1:5-6. e The term beasts is a most inappropriate and unhappy rendering of the original £wa, living creatures, emblematical representatives of the universal church of Christ. Full of eyes before and behind and within : and they rest not day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Revelation 4:6. eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of Saints. And they sang a new song, saying, " Thou are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation : and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.’’ And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice; " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing." And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying; " Blessing and honour and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." And the four living creatures said, " Amen" And the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped Him that livethfor ever and ever.1 In reflecting on the sufferings of our Lord throughout the period of His continuance in our nature upon earth, we ought never to lose sight of a circumstance to which we should pay deep attention in the case of an individual of the human race — the dignity of the sufferer. What is the incidental dignity of any human being, of Patriarch, Prophet, Saint, in comparison with the inherent majesty of the Eternal Son of God ! Submission on His part even to slight suffering would have been incalculable humiliation, incalculable mercy and love. But the language in which the Scriptures describe the whole amount of anguish which our Lord underwent for the redemption of the world, is characteristic of intensity of pain and distress. He was preeminently a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. His visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men,11 It was not, however, by the severity of those trials, great i Rev. 5:6:14. 2 Isaiah 53:3. Isaiah 52:10.
I as it was, concerning which the Scriptures enter the most into details, that the keenest darts of his sorrows and his grief were infixed. It was not hy the obstinate unbelief of the Jews, by the constant machinations of his enemies for his destruction, by the vacillation and unfaithfulness of his disciples, by the treachery of Judas, by the denials of Peter, by the iniquity of Pilate, and the brutality of the Roman soldiers. It was not by the pains of the Cross; pains which might not be in themselves more acute than those endured by the malefactor on either side. He had undertaken to be the representative of sinners. It was appointed that a feeling of the most aweful part of the doom in reserve for sinners, the withdrawing of the light of God’s countenance, the being cast off by the Most High, should at times be experienced by Him on whom the Lord laid the iniquity of us all.1 Hence the agony of Gethsemane. Hence the despairing exclamation on the cross. My God ! My God I Why hast thou forsaken met *
1 Isaiah 53:6.
2 There are various’passages in the Psalms, as illustrated by Bishop Horsley in his translation and the accompanying notes, which appear prophetically to indicate that our sinless Redeemer would be called on different occasions to sustain these terrors of the Lord, See Psalm Ixxxviii. The energy of the Divine Love is manifested in the amount of the provocations which it pardons. To the sinfulness, the corruptions, the continual rebellions of the human heart, in every period of the world, reference has already been made. But still farther; the love of God is magnified by its unbounded comprehensiveness.
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but tliat the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways : for why will ye die ? 1 God our Saviour would have all men to be saved.2 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.3 Christ was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world* We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.5
Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.6 1 Ezekiel 33:11. « John 1:9.
2 1 Timothy 2:4. * Hebrews 10:10. , 3 John 5:40. « 1 John 2:1-2.
We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. 1 Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.2
Thus universal is the love of God. There is no exclusion, no rejection. No man is overlooked, no man is forsaken, no man is passed by. Every man has sinned : for every man the Son of God has suffered. To every man, through the sufferings of the Son of God, is grace vouchsafed sufficient to enable him to attain salvation. Not only are all these blessings spontaneously provided by the Divine Love for mankind, and offered to every individual; the matchless condescension of God proceeds still farther. The Father against whom we rebelled, the Son who of His own free love came down from heaven and died for us, the Holy Ghost addressing us by his inspired messengers the apostles, unite, as it were, in earnestly requesting and entreating men to accept the astonishing mercies of Redemption. Now then we are i Hebrews 2:9 :2 Mark 16:15. ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God,1
Here, perhaps, some objector may inquire ; " Whence is it that the sufferings and the death of Christ were necessary to render God, thus characterised as Love, placable to transgressors?"
They were not necessary to render God placable to transgressors. They had no effect in rendering him placable. They were in no degree designed to render Him placable. There is no greater mistake concerning the purpose of the atonement of Christ than to imagine that its object was to render God placable. And why? Because God is love: because the very phrase of rendering God placable implies, ignorantly and falsely, the existence of a feeling in the Divine Mind which never had a place, nor by any possibility could have a place there : because, foreknowing from eternity all the transgressions of every individual of the then uncreated human race, His love arranged, beforehand, means of pardon through the sacrifice of the Lamb thus slain in the Divine counsels/rom the foundation of ’ 2 Corinthians 5:20. the world. Of what character must the means be? They must be means which, while they should signally display the love of God towards mankind, should also be in full accordance with His own holiness, and with the moral interests of the universe. Forgiveness was to be extended to the sinner. But how, without affording encouragement to sin ? The penalty of the law was to be remitted. But how, without impairing the authority of the law ? A wicked world was to be replaced in the favour of God. But how, without disparagement to His justice ? A revolted province of his empire was to be reinstated in its privileges, yet neither making nor offering to make any satisfaction for its rebellion. But how, without holding forward inducements to other provinces to rebel ? The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, alike infinite, had provided. We have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.1 Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and front our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins? The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.3 for.
, i John 4:14. Galatians 1:4 3 Galatians 2:20. there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.1 Who is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."1 Christ was the end of the law for righteousness.3 Think not that 1 am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled* Christ has redeemed us from the eurse of the law, being made a curse for «s.5 Were not then the means employed by the Divine Mercy for the salvation of mankind so stupendously rich in wisdom and in love as to deserve the inexpressible admiration of men and of angels? Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Father, God manifested in the flesh: he who in the beginning was with God, and wasGod, He by whom all things were created, visible and invisible, was made man, and crucified for men! If we could suppose ourselves wholly unacquainted with the plan which it pleased God to adopt for our redemption; if we were then to
God; that the ransom which He had paid for sinners was accepted; and that He would raise all men from the dead at the last day. He ascended into heaven there to exercise in His glorified human nature the fulness of Divine Power for the protection of his Universal Church, and for the salvation of every individual who shall believe in Him, and obey Him. Thus He ever liveth to make intercession for us. If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for our sins.1 To Him the final judgement of all mankind is committed, because He was the Son of Man 2; because, though the Son of God, He humbled himself to become man. And thus His penitent servants are mercifully assured that they will not have a Judge who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities ; but one who on earth was made like unto his brethren, and was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.8 Are human salvation and the plan by which it is accomplished objects of interest to men only ? They are objects of the deepest interest i Hebr. 8:25:1 John 2:1-2.
« John 5:22-27. s Hebrews 2:17. Hebrews 4:15. to the universe. They are objects of the most influential importance to all created beings endued with moral responsibility who may now exist, or who may be called into existence during eternity, in any portion of the unbounded empire of the Lord of all. The inhabitants of earth are a spectacle to angels. There is joy in heaven over every penitent sinner. The angels are all ministering spirits unto those who shall be heirs of salvation. The angels of the very children presented to our Redeemer constantly beheld the face of the Lord God. The mysteries of Redemption are depths into which the angels desire to look. The calling of the Gentiles into the Universal Church of Christ is also to the intent that unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.1 Think not that this earth, the abode of sinful man, this minute orb, this feeble spark amidst the blaze of the firmament, is an object little worthy of notice, in comparison with the magnificence of the surrounding wonders of Creative Power. Is it presumption to intimate that it may be more worthy of admiring contemplation, than ’ Ephesians 3:10. each of them, than all? Is it presumption to believe that this earth has been dignified in a manner, and to a degree, unexampled in any other of the heavenly bodies revolving in infinite space ? If on this minute and glimmering orb, and for the salvation of its sinful inhabitants, Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross’; then it is not presumption to believe that on this earth was accomplished the most astonishing, the most memorable, event that ever took place in the Divine administration of the universe; that on this earth was displayed the most decisive, the most affecting, proof ever given to the Universe that God is Love. On certain parts of the Divine proceedings, either past, or prophetically announced as still future, questions have arisen, the subjects of which a due consideration of the intimate connection between events characterising the con- i Php 2:5-8. duct of God respecting mankind and the moral interests of the Universe may tend in some measure to elucidate.
It has not unfrequently been asked, Why, after the original promise to Adam of a Redeemer, four thousand years were permitted to elapse before his appearance upon earth ? Why were ignorance, and superstition, and idolatry, and wickedness, suffered during so many ages to reign triumphant over the world ? To all such inquiries it would be a conclusive reply, that He who gave the promise knew the fittest period for fulfilling it; and therefore reserved the times and the seasons in his own power. " Yet might it not have been expected," the objector answers, " that a shorter interval would have been sufficient to dispose men to welcome the Messiah ?" Even the longer interval did not suffice to produce that effect. But setting apart that line of discussion, is there not reason for believing that the open spectacle of a world perseveringly continuing during four thousand years under the dominion of evil, notwithstanding the revelations of the Divine wil^ from time to time vouchsafed to it, and the mercies and the judgements displayed upon it» might most beneficially manifest to beings in worlds beyond our own sphere such proofs of the malignity and hatefulness of sin, as the same spectacle exhibited during a shorter period would not have adequately impressed ?
Surprise has also been felt at the slow progress of Christianity during eighteen hundred years since its promulgation: at the corruptions by which it has been and is still defaced; and at its little more than nominal influence over a large proportion of its professors. But may not these unequivocal demonstrations of human depravity and of the tenacity with which sin retains its victims in blindness and bondage, be employed as warnings and spiritual safeguards to dwellers in other worlds now in a state of trial, or hereafter to be created and to be subjected to probation ?
There is yet to ensue upon earth a period prophetically announced in the Old Testament under a variety of grand and beautiful figures indicative of holiness and happiness, and extended in the New Testament over not fewer than a thousand years, during which the author of evil shall be chained in the abyss, and all the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. That God, after having permitted the wilful disobedience of men to overspread the earth with confusion and misery during many thousands of years, should glorify himself by rendering it in long and splendid contrast the manifestion of righteousness and felicity, can excite no surprise. But when we read that at the termination of the Millennium Satan, loosed from his prison, shall find the nations of the earth prepared for a new outbreak of rebellion against the Most High1, we are astounded. Yet may not this overwhelming demonstration that sin, when once it has implanted itself in any class of beings, can be eradicated by no power but that of the Holy Spirit of God, be a lesson of instruction to the Universe, and throughout eternity ?
If the preceding suppositions be realities, are not they collateral signs that God is Love ?